April 12-19, 2006

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Abominable What—has our beloved Sonics Squatch mascot become a carnivorous killer of cuties lost in the woods? Gathered for a bachelorette party in the high Sierras, five hotties led by Haley Joel are stalked by a toothy, hairy beast that also answers to the name of Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, and, yes, the Abominable Snowman. Watching the carnage helplessly from the cabin next door is wheelchair-bound voyeur Matt McCoy, clutching his binoculars in horror like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. As B-grade horror flicks go, Abominable is relatively light on gore and ironic humor; nor are the girls being eviscerated because they slept around. Why the eight-foot beast is suddenly so hungry is unclear. It looks like a cross between Richard Harris, an old bearskin rug, and a piranha. Whether famished from hibernation or displaced by global warming, the thing just wants to eat—and co-eds are cheaper than what they're serving at Key Arena. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Metro, 4500 Ninth Ave. N.E., 206-781-5755. $6-9. Opens Fri. April 14.

American Indian Film Festival Nine documentaries, features, and shorts are screened over three days, with visiting filmmakers including Heather Rae (Trudell), Frank Blythe (Spiral of Fire), and Phil Lucas (Voyage of Rediscovery). Actor Gary Farmer will discuss his role alongside Kris Kristofferson in Disappearances. Makah fishing rights are addressed in Usual and Accustomed Places. Muckleshoot canoeists follow an ancient paddle route in Pulling Together. Panels and discussions will be included among the screenings. See Web site for full schedule and details. Bellevue Community College, 3000 Landerholm Circle, 425-564-1000, www.bcc.ctc.edu. $10. Wed. April 12-Fri. April 14.

Carroll Ballard Combo Parents should note that the Duma director's G-rated The Black Stallion (1979) and PG-13-rated Never Cry Wolf continue through the weekend. Both belong to the innocent kind of adventure-in-nature genre lately gone out of fashion. Neither has been spiffed up for DVD reissue (though plans are in the works), so here's a chance to take the kids to experience them on the big screen—perhaps the next best thing to nature itself. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. $5-$8. Sat. April. 15-Sun. April 16.

Deliverance Yes, there will come a point in John Boorman's 1972 male-bonding thriller when—as Ned Beatty begins crawling around the mud in his tighty-whities—the audience will gleefully shout out along with the crazed hillbilly sodomite, "I'm gonna make you squeal like a pig!" Yet there's more to the movie than that classic moment. Caught in a quagmire (there's a Vietnam War context), Beatty, Ronny Cox, Jon Voight, and Burt Reynolds are soft urbanites unprepared for the violent consequences of their white-water adventure. They want a little risk in their lives, but fail to understand that means risking their lives. With a new war raging, Deliverance is still a disturbing reminder of how a little machismo can lead to a lot of trouble. (R) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 206-686-6684. $5. 7 and 9:30 p.m. Thurs. April 13-Sun. April 16.

The Devil's Miner Children and teenagers are among the impoverished Bolivian miners profiled in this new documentary by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani. (NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. Free with RSVP to rsvp@communitycinemaseattle.org. 4 p.m. Sat. April 14.

Hamburger Dad Local filmmakers Wil Long and Kevin Clarke will attend and help explain the premise of this world premiere. No, wait, we can do that for you: Like a fast-food take on The Metamorphosis, a guy wakes up one day as, yes, a hamburger. Wacky complications ensue among various Seattle locations, probably entailing things not even Kafka could've envisioned. Plays with two bonus shorts from the same team. (NR) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 206-523-3935. $5-$7.50. 11 p.m. Fri. April 14-Sat. April 15.

Independent Exposure This program of 12 short docs is titled "Up in Smoke: Architecture in Transformation." Most are as much of a snore as that sounds. A Closer Look at Parking Lots literally follows a clunky station wagon circling round a nearly vacant parking area. Karolina Kowalska's God Mode gives her teleportation abilities using a remote control, but ends up feeling like a flat, boring slide show of seedy places around Poland. More interesting is Jonathan Hodgson's Feeling My Way, in which he melds a first-person view of his walk home with animated effects. What you see are his stereotyping perceptions of passing strangers and the subconscious (animated) thoughts they inspire. Strip Mall Trilogy: Part I has an amusing twist in which director Roger Beebe flashes symbols of capitalist America to a cacophony of consumer sounds, like the ringing bell of a shop door opening combined with the beep of a price scanner. (NR) KELLIE HWANG Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 206-686-6684. $5. 7 and 9 p.m. Wed. April 12.

The Lovers SAM's Louis Malle series continues with this 1958 romance, starring Jeanne Moreau as an Anna Karenina-ish married woman looking for the passion missing in her marriage to a provincial newspaper publisher (Alain Cuny). She gets her chance, and takes it, with a handsome archaeologist (Jean-Marc Bory). The story's fairly classical, adapted from an 18th-century short story by Dominique Vivant and scored to Brahms. The movie was also banned in several states at its U.S. release, leading to an eventual Supreme Court ruling overturning its supposed obscenity. Today, of course, the sex and adultery look pretty tame. (NR) Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E., 206-654-3121. $58-$65 (series), $7 individual. 7:30 p.m. Thurs. April 13.